ryansmoneypit

iTrader: (6)

Yes, but is power actually getting to the gauge, with the key turned on?

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

I'd source power off the solid red wire on this harness. and I'd also source my ground there as well, using one of the pair of solid black wires that doubles on the very inside-end of the harness.

miataa

You can see in the picture where I took a reading of the voltage coming out of the power wire, that would go into the gauge. There is power present, however I don't think it's enough. If it is, then the gauge is broken.



I'm hesitant to tap into those ecu wires, but I trust your information, so I'll do that. What technique would you recommend to use in order to tap into those?

Would I do something like this?

jstck

That video shows just twisting the wires together, and he mentions just covering it in tape. I would not ever do that in a car for anything important, if you tug on it it can come apart pretty easily no matter how neatly it's twisted up.

I usually go with butt crimp connectors when doing stuff like this. With a connector of the right size you can fit two cables in one side and one in the other.

Soldering works, but it doesn't react to well to repeated temperature changes or stress (tugging cable or maybe severe vibration). It's also usually pretty tricky to do in a car wiring, as it's often cramped for space and easy to accidentally melt insulation on other wires or burn carpets or whatever.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

that's actually a very good method if you dont want to cut and re-secure. But I'd also hit it with solder. But the problem is how it makes the orginal wire all funky for routing:



I do like the idea of basically cutting the wire, then using a butt-end crimp to put it back together with two wires going in on one side. Probably the easiest/quickest way to do it as well. I like the crimps with integrated heatshrink, but you need to make sure you get a really good crimp on these, you wouldn't want your power wire to fall out.


But just fwiw, that harness I'm suggesting he tap into is completely soldered together. it's inside the cabin and won't be subject to temp changes or stress.

So with that said, those wires are also really easy to desolder from the db37 cup so you can do the crimp like above, and then run the heatshrink down the existing wire. That way the orginal wire doesnt have to get all funky for a more clean install like such:




This thread and others like it have made me rework my wbo2 wiring for my ms3x harnesses to make it much much much easier.

miataa

So I could use the non cut method to see if the gauge works, and if it does, then follow your instructions for a permanent soldered install?

jstck

That would do. Just take care to not short anything with the exposed wires when testing it, electrical tape is your friend.
If you can unsolder/remove one end of the cable from the connector or just cut it at the splice in order to fit shrink tubing over it, that's what will probably look the neatest (crimp connectors do look a bit ugly in the eyes of some people). If you're soldering it, it won't matter too much to the end result if you cut the cable or just strip the insulation, what is easier depends a bit on how much room and slack you have. Though if you manage to get the insulation off neatly, it's probably easier to twist+solder the strands together if you don't have it cut (so you just have two cables instead of three).

Any of these methods (soldering, crimping, or just twisting wires and covering in tape and zipties) will work well if done properly, and can go bad if not. Go with whatever you feel comfortable with and have tools for, and if you're in any way unsure it's easy enough to practice on some spare bits of cable before going wild on your wiring loom.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

electrical tape should be outlawed.

Recommending twisting wires together and taping them secure, is almost grounds for being banned. In the least it's going to awaken Quality Control Bot.

Quality Control Bot

iTrader: (3)

I am QBC, prince of Eternia and defender of the secrets of Castle MiataTurbo. This is Cringer, my fearless friend.

Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic banhammer and said, “By the power of MiataTurbo! I have the power!“

Cringer became the mighty Battle Cat, and I became He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe!

Only three others share this secret — our friends, the Sorceress, Man-at-Arms, and Orko. Together we defend Castle MiataTurbo from the evil forces of bad advice.

jstck

I'm in no way (now or earlier) recommending that as a long-term way of securing cables, but for temporarily testing if the gauge thing works, electrical tape is a good measure to make sure electrical **** doesn't touch other **** it shouldn't be touching.

Given the right kind of tape, the right circumstances when applying it and the right long-term luck, it can work, but way too often doesn't for it to be useful.

mmmjesse

Looks like Brain has a case of premature eja......QCB. He didnt read all of your first post saying that it was a bad idea.

Also, as far as solder goes, the OP should only do it if they know how to properly solder. I have seen far too many bad solder jobs on wiring connections to ever recommend it to someone who doesnt know what they are doing.

If you do butt connectors, they need to be GOOD ones crimped with a proper tool. NOT like the one below.

jstck

I have one of those that I used for a while before I knew better. I still have it around to strip insulation (it does thick wire better than my regular one), but I have flattened the nose of it with a angle grinder to prevent accidental use...

I have one that looks like this, and it does a good job:


Provided you use the right size die for the connector (hint: match the colors), and the connector size matches the wire, it has always given me solid connections. Also very useful (almost necessary) if you're doing relays, fuses or switches with those flat terminals whose name in English I do not know.

Don't go too cheap on the crimp connectors though. Some have crappy brittle plastic that will break at the crimp, there are also those where the metal is too thin or fragile (low-grade chinesium) and just won't hold the cable properly. I've only gotten bad connectors in some cheap assortment gas-station kits with very many different kinds (which you would probably expect to see bundled with a really shitty crimp tool).

mmmjesse

those will do it. I personally prefer un insulated crimps in conjuction with heat shrink. those tend to work the best and you arent dealing with shitty plastic on the connectors. If you go look at oem connections, they use bare crimps and heat shrink.

For my multiple connections, i generally use splice packs that i have collected over the years from trucks i have worked on. Thats usually how i feed power and ground up to the gauges so that i am not running multiple wires all over the place.

miataa

Theoretically, could I just pull this wiring mess out, and test this thing directly with my car's battery?

If not, then I'm going to splice into the ECU power and ground as Braineack kindly suggested.

My main issue, is that I don't want to harm wiring to find out that this wideband is trash, and purchase a new one where installation might be simpler, to be left with a new wideband, and an ugly wiring harness.

lol I hope that sentence made sense.

mmmjesse

any way you go you will be wiring in power and ground to the wideband.

However, you could just go right to the battery for the power and ground to see if it will power up. i would use a little inline fuse just in case.

miataa

I know I'll be wiring in whatever wideband I choose, and doing it properly.

However, this entire adventure was meant to find out if this LC-1 worked lol. All of the info I have gotten has been a tremendous help, and will be used for my permanent install.

It seems that If I can just press all the wires on their respective battery terminals, and check to see if this works, that that would be a lot faster, and safer.

I'd really rather only have to splice into my wiring one time, for a permanent install.

ryansmoneypit

iTrader: (6)

Dude you have power coming into your wideband harness but you don't have power coming out at the other end. There's something wrong with that harness. The wideband harness.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

yeah you can test that way, but where i've said to hook it up is the most ideal install.

miataa

Thank you.
I think it's best I drop the cash on a new wideband and save myself the hassle.

Definitely. I hear you, and I'll be following your advice for the final install. I appreciate all the detailed help you've given me!



I'll be using this thread for reference. Anyone have any suggestions between the MTX-L and AEM UEGO?

mmmjesse

i have used the MTX-L without problems. I just installed one in my personal car.

Look it up on jet.com , i got mine from there. It was listed for 150 and you get 15% your first purchase. it was about 126 shipped.